Facebook Ads For Car Dealerships

In the Fourth Quarter of 2015 Facebook had $5.6 billion in ad revenue. Mobile advertising made up a huge portion of their revenue, accounting for 80% of it. If you want to reach out to your customers on mobile devices then Facebook advertising needs to be a part of your dealership’s digital marketing strategy. There are multiple ways you can target your ads in Facebook. You can set up a custom audience (Facebook’s version of retargeting), demographic targeting, financial resources, interest-based targeting and in-market targeting. In this post we’re going to be discussing Facebook’s In-Market targeting capabilities and how it can be utilized by your dealership.

What Is Facebook In-Market Targeting?

Our online behavior says a lot about our buying intentions. Utilizing data from a variety of sources that may include websites you’ve visited, Facebook is able to tell who is in process or considering buying a specific product. This is a powerful digital marketing tool that will allow you to show ads to people who is interested in or actively looking for your specific product.

How Dealerships Can Utilize In-Market Audience in Facebook

Facebook behavior targeting allows you to target people in-market for specific vehicle brands such as Honda, Toyota, Chevrolet or Ford. You can even target people who are in-market for certain vehicle types such as SUVs or trucks. Below is a table showing the potential reach for various in-market target audiences within a 30 mile radius around the Seattle market.

30 miles around Seattle

Facebook Audience

Potential Reach

Branded

In Market Ford

39,000

In Market Honda

95,000

In Market Chevrolet

27,000

In Market Toyota

140,000

In Market Hyundai

21,000

In Market Kia

21,000

In Market Subaru

51,000

In Market Dodge

13,000

In Market Dodge Ram

42,000

In Market Jeep

25,000

In Market Mazda

22,000

In Market Volkswagen

28,000

In Market Nissan

38,000

In Market Audi

13,000

In Market Mercedes

15,000

In Market Cadillac

8,400

In Market Chrysler

98,000

In Market Lexus

19,000

In Market Acura

18,000

In Market Infiniti

6,600

In Market BMW

19,000

In Market GMC

21,000

Off Brand (New)

In Market Luxury SUV

110,000

In Market Midsize Car

210,000

In Market Pickup Truck

220,000

In Market Compact Car

290,000

In Market Convertible

35,000

In Market SUV

180,000

There are multiple ways a dealer can utilize in-market audiences to target potential car shoppers. Here are some potential ideas:

Target Competing Brands. Show your ads to people interesting in competing brands to try to sway them into your sales funnel. Example: A Honda dealership could target ads to people who are in-market for Ford, Hyundai, or Kia cars.

Combine In-Market Audience for competing brands with people who have liked your page. As a dealership brand loyalty plays a big part in your bottom line. You don’t want past customers to switch over to a different car brand when it’s time for them to get a new car. By targeting people who have liked your page with In-Market competing brands you can target past customers who may be thinking of jumping ship from your brand.

Target your own brand. This one is rather straight forward. Target people who are actually interested in your product.

Target In-Market off brand interest. Target high sales funnel shoppers who are interested in a specific type of vehicle, but haven’t quite decided which brand yet.

These are only just a few ideas to get you started in targeting potential car shoppers using in-market Facebook audiences. It’ll definitely get you started in the right track in targeting the right people with your Facebook ad campaign.

Google recently released their Vehicle Dealer vertical report for the Q4 of 2015. The data yielded some interesting data that shed some new light on the vertical and reinforced past trends. According to the report search queries in the Vehicle Dealers Category grew by 13%. Interestingly, Desktop searches declined by 3 percent and Tablet queries declined by 5 percent, while Mobile queries grew by 33%. This is not groundbreaking news, but it does reinforce the fact that mobile traffic is increasingly becoming a larger part of the pie.

The report also shed some light on interesting trends in regards to the paid search auctions on Google search results.

Queries, Impression and Clicks saw huge increases for Mobile on the Adwords search auction. On the contrary, those same metrics saw a decrease on desktop – no surprise there. An interesting trend that I wasn’t aware of was that Ad Depth decreased quite significantly for desktop queries, a drop of 8.79%. The Ad Depth refers to the number of ad placement spots for a particular search query. A near 10% drop in Ad Depth means that a search term that used to yield 10 search ad spots may only be showing 9 ad spots now. One less ad spot on the search results page means a decrease in impressions and a rise in CPC as the same number of advertisers competes for even less ad space. If your dealership Adwords campaign saw a rise in CPC in the past 3 months then this may be a contributing factor.

The big takeaway from Google’s report is that mobile traffic and desktop traffic is trending in opposite directions. In fact 62% of all searches in the Vehicle Dealers vertical are made on mobile or tablet devices. So what does this mean for car dealerships? Well, it means having a mobile responsive website and a digital advertising strategy to reach mobile users is even more important and increasing by the day.

Terrestrial radio ad spots have long been a foundation of many car dealerships marketing efforts. In the past couple of years digital radio, on platforms such as Pandora and Spotify, has increased in popularity and taken listeners away from terrestrial radio. With that shift comes a shift in ad dollars as dealerships look to reach their target audience on the new frontier of digital radio. Before dealers sign up for a digital radio campaign they need to be aware of the returns that they’ll most likely get from the campaign.

In the past, a couple of dealerships have reached out to us to investigate a rise in bounce rate on their site. In more than a few occasions I’ve poked into their analytics account to find that the culprit of the rise in bounce rate was a digital radio campaign that the dealership was running. In one case, I saw a site’s bounce rate nearly double on the days that their digital radio campaign ran.

In the analytics accounts that I’ve seen, the engagement metrics for digital radio advertising leaves a lot to be desired. You may expect to see these kinds of results:
• Bounce rate in the low 90’s
• Time on site less than 40 seconds
• Pages/Session less than 1.5

Also, you’ll see very little goal conversions, if any. With these dismal engagement metrics you’ve got to really question the quality of traffic that these campaigns are bringing to your site.

The majority of digital radio users are on mobile devices. With mobile banner ads comes the peril of the accidental clicks from fat finger syndrome. The accidental click rate on mobile banner ads is typically 65%. For digital radio campaigns I expect the accidental click rate to be much higher when you consider that oftentimes the banner ad placement is typically above the radio navigation buttons. A person who accidentally clicked on your ad when they intended to ‘Skip’ that One Direction song on their Taylor Swift Pandora station is not a likely car shopper and will most likely bounce from your site faster than Taylor Swift goes through boyfriends.

Digital radio campaigns aren’t without its benefits. The campaigns will yield lots of impressions at a pretty decent CPM (cost per thousand impressions), which has its benefits when it comes to branding. As a dealership you’ll have to weigh on whether this benefits outweighs the bounce rate hit that your site will take.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

The purpose of this article is to provide information to automotive dealers about Google’s new indexing changes and the technology and opinions related to them. The article has links to all my research for you to expand in the topic.

It is safe to assume that by now we have all heard that Google rolled out a “mobile-friendly update” (1) on April 2014. It is important to understand these changes as they are the beginning of the way our websites will be accessed by our customers. We are moving from desktops to mobile devices and the way Google will work for these is changing.

The update will begin to change how Google ranks and indexes website content for mobile searches. This is an update to force website owners to improve their websites so they are mobile compatible. You can no longer ignore mobile traffic. Period.

Moz (2) analyzed the changes in traffic globally (not just automotive industry) and they haven’t been very relevant. So far this update hasn’t been a big deal as you can see in their “7-day analysis” (3). But don’t think this is over, here is why:

The algorithm change only affects mobile (cell phone only, no tablets!) searches, not desktop.
Most companies that were already ranking well for high value keywords were already mobile friendly.
The changes will take time to spread, re-index, and notice changes-if any.

On a side note and quoting Google (4) about content and the effects of the mobile changes: “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.” Google will prioritize indexing of high quality useful content versus just the fact that the architecture of your site is mobile friendly. In my opinion this should be specially noted for long tail searches.

Google is looking to bring content parity (5) so the websites “provide the same content to both mobile and desktop visitors”. Your customers (and now Google!) “expect to be able to do anything on their devices that they can do on a desktop”. We are breaking very fast the myth that consumers will not perform certain tasks on a mobile device VS desktop, data shows the opposite, mobile devices are becoming the center of how we look for content and interact with products.

You can check if your website is mobile friendly by using this free tool provided by Google: Mobile friendly test (6).

However here are a couple things you should know about that tool. Most automotive dealerships have what is called “adaptive website platform” (7). When a customer types a URL on a mobile browser or clicks on a link on a smart phone, the server knows the request is coming from a certain type of device therefore changing what the server shows. In essence you have 2 different websites; one for desktops and one for mobile devices. The issue with that is that customer experience is not equal from device to device; not all 3rd party tools, links, calls to action, etc are always equally positioned or even existent on all devices. An “adaptive website platform” still passes Google’s test because webmaster can add a piece of code that tells the tool that a mobile version of the site exists in the server and therefore the tool approves the site.

We also have in the industry what we call “responsive websites” (8). Responsive websites are not just a way to pass Google’s test but a new way to look at how we progress into the changes from desktop to increasing mobile and tablet traffic (note also the arrival of the desktop tablets (9)). In layman’s terms (spoiler alert: we produce this website) automotive responsive website systems (10) offer customers exactly the same website regardless of the device used so the website the customer experiences is always the same regardless of the screen size in use.

There is an evolution happening in front of our eyes from a desktop sized screen to a multi sized screen. The changes are also intrinsically related to site speed; while most desktops are connected to broadband mobile devices still suffer from connectivity. Site speed is a consideration (11) for 2014 and it will increase in years to come.

Our approach to responsive (DealerLab.com and Dealereprocess.com (12))has been an specific technology called RESS (13). RESS technology allows the websites to control the load based on device and therefore the website’s loading speed. This technology is a must for automotive websites where the SRP (Search Results Page) and the VDP (Vehicle Details Page) are loaded with image files. You can see the need of RESS when website companies have to revert to use “flex systems” that in reality are not fully responsive as they fall back in adaptive technology. There are plenty of articles to expand on RESS (14) technology and how this can benefit automotive e-commerce.

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